It is known that modern battlefield tactics involve the use of battlefield smokes and aerosols to hide or conceal one's actions on the battlefield. The ability to "see" through a smoke screen or aerosol screen laid down by the friend or foe would be a tremendous asset. By determining the exact location of the enemies' forces and armor one can direct bombs, artillery or other weapons to the desired correct location. As the art of smokes and aerosols progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to "see" through the atmosphere with these elements therein. When one looks at transmission versus wavelength, one finds that the transmission at visible wavelengths is much less than the transmission at longer wavelengths, i.e., at 10.6 microns. Therefore, thermal imaging devices, flirs, are used more and more to "see" through battlefield atmospheres. But as the concentration of the aerosols or smokes in the atmosphere are increased beyond a given value, it becomes impossible even for thermal imaging devices to see through the aerosols or smokes. Therefore, there is a need for a device which is capable of punching or burning a hole through the aerosol or smoke clouds so that the transmission of the wavelength of interest can be increased and transmitted as needed.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a device which utilizes a high power laser energy source with means for directing the energy source in the direction in which it is desired to look and utilizing the energy source for punching or burning a hole through aerosol or smoke cloud cover.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device in which the reflecting means has a hole therein through which a thermal imaging device can be focused to look through the hole in the reflecting means and the hole punched by the high energy laser device.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art.